Sumikawa Law Office | Japan | English Speaking Lawyer | Attorney at Law
Law firm in Kawasaki city next to Tokyo and Yokohama. All attorneys (lawyers) can speak English.
November 3rd is a national holiday in Japan (Culture Day, BUNKA-NO-HI).
Sumikawa Law Office is closed on national holidays. Sorry for the inconvenience.
The purpose of Culture Day is to “love freedom and peace and promote culture”.
By owning a property in Japan, you will have to incur expenses and taxes, even if you don’t use the property any more. In such case, you may have to consider selling the property.
If you live abroad and want to sell your real estate in Japan, you may be required to come to Japan to sign a contract. However, there may be people who have difficulties coming to Japan. In such cases, by having an attorney (Bengoshi lawyer) represent you, you may be able to close the contract while in your own country.
For example, it is possible for the attorney to support you to negotiate and sell land, buildings and leasehold rights in Japan that are no longer needed by yourself.
We mainly handle cases in Tokyo and Kanagawa area, however, we can provide support for real estate throughout Japan.
Please note that we have received several consultations about fraudulent cases involving companies and offices purporting to be located in Japan. If you are looking for a Japanese lawyer (attorney, Bengoshi) or agent from abroad, be sure to check that they are officially registered. You can find a registered attorney’s list on the Japan Federation of Bar Associations’ website. Also, the U.S. Embassy, UK Government and Government of Canada provide lists of lawyers who can be contacted in English.
Japan Federation of Bar Associations’ website
Make sure the contact (address and phone number) of the offices or agents matches the information provided from these official bodies. As a result of our researches at the request of overseas clients, we have identified several websites that fraudulently abuse the names of real lawyers and accountants in Japan.
In Japan, September 21 (Respect for the Aged Day) and 22 (Autumnal Equinox Day) are public holidays for the year 2020.
Sumikawa Law Office is not open on national holidays.
August 10 is a national holiday in Japan (Mountain Day). The following August 11-14 is also the summer vacation season (Obon) for many companies.
Although our office will be open August 11-14, some of our staff are taking vacations, so our response time may be slower than usual.
Thank you for your understanding.
In 2020, Japanese court has begun the implementation of IT in civil court proceedings.
As of August 2020, some courts have enabled procedures for preparatory meetings to be conducted via web conferencing (Microsoft Teams). Web conferencing is also being implemented in labor tribunals (rodo-shinpan procedure).
It is expected that court documents, including complaints, will be able to be submitted online in the next few years.
Until now, the basic form of court work has been to send printed materials by fax, which has caused various inefficiencies. If a document was originally created on a PC, it is more convenient to send and receive and to reuse the contents of the document if it is sent electronically. It is also anticipated that the availability of web conferencing will greatly reduce the number of times the attorneys (and the clients) have to travel to distant courts. This will lead to a reduction in travel and per diem expenses for the client.
Although it has only just started, court practice will change significantly over the next five years. As an attorney who deals with the practice of law, it will be necessary to keep up to date with the latest information and to try to handle cases in a way that reduces the time and financial burden on the clients as much as possible.
